The Clothes Whisperer: the fashion blog with wit that sparkles

Editor Watch: Anna Dello Russo for H&M

2012-05-30T09:45:00.000+01:00

When this nugget of news pinged into my inbox at the start of the month, I meant to write up something on it, but then Paris being Paris, the days melted quaintly away and I forgot all about Anna and her collection for H&M. But now that I'm back in her native Italy, it seems more appropriate to tackle the topic.

So Anna Dello Russo is to be the first Vogue editor to turn designer for the fast fashion giant, joining the likes of Karl Lagerfeld, Donatella Versace and most lately Marni's Consuela Castiglioni. I suppose it was only a matter of time, either that she'd collaborate as such or launch her own line of fruit-inspired headgear. But somehow, I'm not sure the timing of this is ideal. Now, before I go any further, allow me to point out that I'm merely marinating on the significance of this collaborative first and what it means for the industry, as personally I have always thought ADR to be rather fabulous. In particular the message she sends in an industry obsessed with youth that one can be just that at any age.

Anna Dello Russo has been a fascinating figure to watch from the sidelines over these last two or so years, her intriguing ride from Fashion Director at Large for Vogue Japan to flamboyant street style mogul to what the H&M press release described as an "idol of the blogosphere." About two years ago, maybe slightly less, I pitched an article to print that never ended up being commissioned with the working title "The Rise of the Edilebrity." Thanks to Gmail's excellent archiving, a quick search has managed to bring it up and I share it with you here: Reality TV, social media and the rest of it have given new visibilities to those in traditionally "behind-the-scene" roles, suddenly transforming ordinary working people into celebrities overnight. As far as fashion is concerned, via the Hills and the City we've seen it with interns, with the Rachel Zoe Project we saw it with stylists and with the filming of the September Issue, at long last, the fashion editor, the ultimate industry insider icon, was laid bare to the world. Examples of editors crossing into the realm of celebrity are numerous enough to call it a trend: Anna Wintour to Grace Coddington (now both covering magazines recently!), Joe Zee (just launched his own reality TV show), Andre Leon Talley (America's Next Top Model), Twitter sensation Hilary Alexander, Franca Sozzani (also on ANTM), there are also more...I would argue that Anna Dello Russo is at the heart of this trend (alongside Wintour), because she managed to turn herself not into a celebrity per se, but for sure an "edilebrity," in a matter of months. Through her blog, social media, and street style shrines she has now definitely approached the realm with the launch of her own fragrance. Editors are no longer just journalists, stylists or marketing mavens, they are public figures (brands even) with tens of thousands of twitter followers, dolls being made in their likeness, TV shows, and so on and so forth. Hence, the birth of the "edilebrity." So I'd like to propose a feature on the trend, with an exploration of where it came from, who are the key and up and coming players (Emmanuelle Alt, for example) and will it last?

Fast forwarding from fragrance to fast fashion, last, it seems, it has. Well, at least further infiltrated the mainstream. It's interesting to point out that Anna was not amongst their year's attendees at the Met Gala, like in previous years. Sure, she could have been busy elsewhere, but who RSVP's no to the Met Ball? And this season, at fashion week, I noticed her outfits slightly scaled back in their signature flamboyance which seems to me to go hand in hand with the fact that many feel that a street style "backlash," so to speak, is imminent. Already this past season I noticed a few former favourites of the sidewalk lens actually declining to have their photo taken, an interesting shift in mood. Is attempting to fly under the street style radar a play for more attention? Have certain members of the upper echelons of the industry merely had enough? Or have all their best Christopher Kane bits simply already been shot? Anna Dello Russo famously told NY Mag about six months ago that she sometimes changes up to five times a day during fashion week. But in February, she seemed to have scaled it back. Not only were her looks slightly more subdued, I'm fairly certain there were less of them.

So to return to the question with which I wrapped up my edilebrity pitch--will it last?--I think the answer is at once obvious and not so much. The press release harps on Anna's iconic status as a blogger, both herself the subject of street style stardom and wielding a website of her own, and they emphasize it more than her role as Fashion Director. To return to my point in the pitch about Andre Leon Talley guest judging on America's Next Top Model, it was announced a few days ago that a certain boy blogger will be taking up that seat which ALT vacated a few seasons back. It seems to me (and this has been a rather long time coming and isn't necessarily the newest bit of info on the block) that the rise of the edilebrity has morphed into that of the bloglebrity. Bloggers are much more malleable in terms of branding, not limited by the DNA of the magazine they represent but still have accrued a similar scope of insider-status, access and authority. Hence the collaboration being between ADR and H&M and not H&M and Vogue Japan. Therefore in sum, Anna Dello Russo's greatest chameleon act is her ability to flit between Fashion Director and fashion blogger, the combination of which once it goes mega-mainstream post HM will take her out of the varying ranks of "lebrity" puns into the full blown arena of celebrity proper. Where she and the phenomena will go from there, remains to be seen (big screen cameos, perhaps--is there a Hangover 3 in the works?), but at least we know that she'll get there with a whole heap of fabulous accessories.

Anna Dello Russo's H&M accessories range will be available from October 4th (I feel a PFW launch coming on...) and features jewellery, sunglasses, shoes, and bags.

Visiting withe Vuitton: The Paris Maison and Espace Culturel

2012-05-28T10:06:00.000+01:00

I've been meaning to post these pictures for a while, but just never got around to it. Quite some time ago, I visited the grandest Maison of them all, the heart of the Louis Vuitton retail empire, so to speak: the Champs-Élysées flagship. The Paris Maison is also the home off the Espace Culturel, an exhibition space on the top floor just a short oblivion-simulating ride up a lightproof, soundproof elevator that I'd always wanted to see and did not disappoint.

WhisperLust: Aladeen Chic in Cannes

2012-05-24T12:00:00.000+01:00

Despite an inbox riddled with the latest from 65th Annual Cannes Film Festival, there is only one actor, one film and one camel-riding style icon who is holding my imagination hostage: Supreme Leader Admiral General Hafez Aladeen. He was recently spotted cruising into the bay of Cannes (the Mirror has a shamefully delectable assortment of snaps e.g. the treat above) wearing his trademark dictator shirt plastered with medals he awarded to himself (Equipment version no doubt to be launching sooner than the nearest nuclear rocket) and of course, venerably swapping his slacks for a speedo. We plebeians of the West have so much to learn from Aladeen, who, if you didn't know is the self-appointed editor in chief of Wadiyan Vogue, on the chic low-down regarding all white military suiting, excessive gold accessorizing and world-domination-reflecting eyewear. So for those of you contemplating resort along the lines of "yes we Cannes!" remember your Wadiyan and repeat after me, "yes we Aladeen!"

1. Alexander Wang Square-frame acetate sunglasses £240

2. Alexander McQueen Embellished crepe blazer £2,430

3, Alexander McQueen Embellished crepe straight-leg pants £930

4. Alexander McQueen Studded leather sandals £1,295

5. Alexander McQueen Swarovski crystal skull and starfish ring £180

6. Alexander McQueen Swarovski crystal-embellished skull necklace £250

7. Zadig &Voltaire Coated stainless steel skull motif watch £265

8. Alexander McQueen Skull charm python wrap bracelet £195

9. Ileana Makri Skull 18-karat rose gold diamond ring £715

10. Ileana Makri Skull 18-karat rose gold ruby necklace £530

11. Alexander McQueen Swarovski crystal double-skull ring £155

12. Alexander McQueen Serpent Skull karung knuckle box clutch £1,150

A Visit To The Aigle Boots Factory-Châtellerault, France

2012-05-22T11:46:00.001+01:00

Anyone who has spent some quality time in England can be forgiven for believing that rubber aka "Wellington" boots were born and bred in the soggy hills of Britain and named, of course, after Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. But after a trip to Châtellerault, a field-filled two-hour train ride from Paris, to the home of Aigle Boots, I emerged with a slightly amended rubber footwear chronology.

It was an American in France (fancy that, eh?) who first applied the technology of vulcanization (a chemical treatment of rubber for the purposes of reinforcement that basically amounts to baking the stuff at obscene temperatures) patented by none other than rubber titan and fellow American Charles Goodyear to boots and then raincoats at the end of the 19th century.

Paying a little visit to the former US-military base turned factory and immersing myself in the history of les bottes en caoutchouc was a rather fascinating experience. Much, one would imagine, like a trip to Charlie's beloved factory albeit with a rather less enticing smell. I've visited factories before, but always where the emphasis was on the craftsman rather than a larger-scale industrial process with wondrously crafted machines that look like they've stepped right out of a 19th century novel.

That is not to say that there isn't a handmade element or craftsmen and women behind it all, but the process of producing rubber and working with it thereafter is a highly industrial one that must have truly seemed beyond revolutionary when it was first introduced a century and a half ago. What is revolutionary to me now is that, evidently, the process and mechanisms involved have not changed much since then.

"I always say that our boots are like a Hermes handbag," quipped Gideon Day, Aigle's Creative Director over a glass of champagne later that evening at the Champs Élysées store opening back in Paris. "They're made by hand and the process involves just as many steps, just not in leather. Even though our boots are a democratic product, they're still luxury and 'made-in-France.'"

Mixed, stretched, pulled, oozed through curious machines, I'd never seen the manufacture of rubber before and watching it was somewhat mesmerizing. After the rubber has cooled, it begins the journey of being molded into boots via various treatments; application to metal forms and eventually vulcanization. The Châtellerault factory produces about 10,000 pairs of shoes annually--which amounts to about three quarters of the brand's total output.

Aigle also produces a range of ready to wear for men and women, which is extremely popular in Japan due to its fusion of function and fashion handled a la Francais. "Our aim is not just to dress people for a function," explained Gideon when I nudged him away from boots. "What we've tried to create for ourselves is a niche where we're a casual brand with a hidden function."

After our morning at the factory, we re-boarded the train back to Paris to join Aigle in toasting their new Champs Élysées store. Perusing the wide array of boots on offer, including special editions laden with Swarovskis, collaborations with brands like Agnes B and a properly lust-worthy simple cropped Chelsea boot, I asked Gideon if there was any conceivable incarnation of the rubber boot he had been unable to realise in his half decade at Aigle's helm.

"To be honest, I have this conversation every week with the guys at the factory! We wanted to do perforated wellies and brogue shoes--this is a problem. We wanted to do leather boots with rubber bottoms, it is possible but not altogether that easy. There are so many things that we've wanted to do or tried to do. The roll-up boots, for instance, I wanted to do as waders to become a little S&M. But the process is very industrial, even making the shapes the metal forms when you want to change a shape is a half a million euros of investment because you have to have all those forms in all those sizes: small changes have enormous consequences." In terms of what's next, Gideon filled me in on an upcoming heritage collaboration with Harris Tweed for fall and a few new ventures brewing in the far east, namely Japan.

"I like to think of the wellingtons as the guys who spin plates. I've got about ten plates spinning at any one time--collaborations, new prints, shapes, textures, materials, there's always something going on. Some of it can't happen, some of it doesn't work, but some of it does," Gideon summed up. "We invented the rubber boot and we are the best rubber boot company around so we should be at the forefront of everything that's going on."

Merci beaucoup to Gideon Day, Aigle and Fabric PR for taking me on such a lovely trip! xx

The Wandering Whisperer: Paris-May, 2012

2012-05-20T11:24:00.001+01:00

Breaking News: Karl Lagerfeld + Snoop Dogg Star In A Music Video!

2012-05-17T10:05:00.001+01:00

Forget Cannes...the party's in St. Tropez! Karl Lagerfeld and Snoop Dogg brilliantly feature in French signer "Jean-Roc's" newest vid...sitting on the dock! #tuneofthesummer

WhisperViews: Alistair Guy on his exhibition 'Across the Pond'- London

2012-05-14T07:43:00.001+01:00

Man about town, friend and photographer extraordinaire, the one and only Alistair Guy's latest exhibition takes on a subject near and dear to my own heart. That is to say, that sinuous relationship between the two fashion capitals on either side of the Atlantic, New York and London. Alistair turned his lens on some of the fashion industry's chief pond-straddlers, who live, breathe and embody the "Ny/Lon" lifestyle, including Style.com's Nicole Phelps, Tank's Caroline Issa, shoe designer Mr. Hare and even yours truly (pictured at, ahem, a London Starbucks thank you very much). Alistair sat down with me over email, alas more bodies of water precluded our preferable cup of tea (if you don't know, Mr. Guy is big on his tea) to chit chat about the exhibition, its subjects and all things London v. New York.

The Clothes Whisperer: Tell me about the concept for the exhibition, where did it come from?
Alistair Guy: I wanted to create an exhibition centred around London and New York, as the last three have been just in my hometown London. Fashion industry characters being the subject which is my usual subject and 'Across The Pond' seemed the right name to call it.

TCW: What was different about this show, from your experience of shooting it as well as curating it?
AG: Traveling to New York and also the connection of the subjects between the two cities, some being more obvious than others. Also not having a different shooting perspective which I've used in the last two exhibitions.

TCW: Which (other than mine, duh) is your favorite portrait and why?
AG: I do love Jimmy King's one which encapsulates the whole feel of the project; an Englishman in New York with the city's skyline behind him. It like the one of Caroline Issa is in the window of the gallery.

TCW: Can you share an anecdote from your time in NYC while you were shooting the exhibition?
AG: Having tea with your delightful Mum and also meeting with the wonderful writer who contributed to the project, NYLON's Faran Krentcil.

TCW: What, in your esteemed opinion, are some key differences culturally between New Yorkers and Londoners?
AG: New Yorkers are much happier planning the future at a faster pace unlike the Brit's who tend to ponder over it. I think this applies not only culturally but also generally with a lot of things, especially work.

TCW: How about NYLON fashion, what are the differences in attitude/style/etc?
AG: New Yorkers definitely dress down (many more pairs of trainers worn, including myself now) and are generally more friendly. The Brit's are more sartorially aware and more cautious in attitude.

TCW: Which city do you prefer?
AG: I do love the pace of life in New York but London has the culture so its a toss up, so both.

TCW: What's up next for Mr. Guy?
AG: I've got projects going on with Live Nation, Casio and Hunter during the Summer months so I will be keeping busy. Any opportunity to travel to NYC again then I would be there in an instant!

"Across the Pond" by Alistair Guy is on at the Exposure Gallery until the end of the month

22-23 Little Portland Street, London W1W 8BU

WhisperLust: Americans in Paris

2012-05-13T13:40:00.000+01:00

Spring has sprung in the City of Light, breaking through the bleak clouds just in time for the final weekend of my pen-caytion sojourn. As I've been rewriting Part One of le novel, tooling about the arrondissements six and seven and reading in the sun by the Seine (yes, the life of a writer is very strenuous), I've had my favorite literary expat decade on the sartorial brain. That is to say, the 1920's...Hemingway...Fitzgerald..pleated chiffon...pearly strands...a tres jolie moveable fashion feast!

1. Chloé Pleated silk-mousseline maxi dress £3,310

2. Lanvin Swarovski crystal rope necklace £545

3. Yves Saint Laurent Round-frame acetate sunglasses £225

4. Yves Saint Laurent Belle Du Jour metallic textured-leather clutch £495

5. Yves Saint Laurent Obsession satin and suede pumps £855

6. Ralph Lauren Collection Brenna II suede and mesh wingtip brogues £475

7. Rag & Bone Satin-trimmed silk-chiffon wide-leg maxi culottes £335

8. Sonia Rykiel Striped metallic knitted cotton-blend sweater £485

9. Victoria Beckham 18-karat rose gold-coated mirrored aviator sunglasses £495

10. Eddie Borgo Smile rose gold-plated cutout pyramid cuff £345

11. Chloé Sally textured-leather shoulder bag £1,325

12. Yves Saint Laurent Ingénue Swarovski crystal-embellished satin slingbacks £920

13. Nina Ricci Flounced silk skirt £630

14. Vionnet Embellished tulle and silk crepe de chine top £1,410

Style the Cyclist with Bikeminded and Harrods

2012-05-13T12:16:00.000+01:00

With posters currently plastered around London's Underground encouraging residents to get off the public transport and get on a bicycle if they have any hope of retaining a shred of their sanity when the 2012 Games descend on us all, you could say I've had bikes on the brain. And style, as you can probably guess, also never wanders too far from the ol' frontal lobe. Therefore it is my pleasure to announce that I will be judging Bikeminded and Harrods' Style the Cyclist competition this month, a fun contest whose aim is to remind borough-dwellers that it is possible to to stay chic on two wheels. The above photo is from a little launch brekkie we celebrated at Ladurée at Harrods, quaintly enough, a mere matter of hours before I boarded my Eurostar to Paris (post moving house, hence the glasses, eeek!).

This is how it's going to work: Bikeminded and Harrods have lined up two surprise inspiring Londoners for you to style a la Pinterest (you can see my board here). That is to say, the way to enter is to create a look that you'd rock on a bike, pin it, share with Bikeminded and myself and my fellow judges will select the two winning boards.

The two winning entries will receive £150 Harrods vouchers, an amazing goodie bag and have their chosen look shot and showcased in Absolutely Magazine as well as the Harrods Magazine. The pinning begins with a sneak peek on May 16th and kicks off for real on the 18th. Click here for more details and bon chance!

Located in London: Writing Britain-Wastelands to Wonderlands, 11 May – 25 September 2012

2012-05-11T09:10:00.000+01:00

J K Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

When I first saw the poster somewhere along the Underground blazoning the words "NOT ALL WHO WANDER ARE LOST," one of the many fine mantras of one of my all-time favorite works of fiction (Lord of the Rings, of course), I stopped dead in my tracks and invariably missed my train. The poster, though it was not advertising a Tolkien specific extravaganza, was actually announcing the imminent arrival of something better. The British Library is currently exhibiting treasures dating back through a millennium of English literature, highlighting the manuscripts of great works in particular that imbue the landscape of the nation. Their vision of Britain, in turn, helped shape the nation's understanding of itself.

Dickens Our Mutual Friend

Curated by the British Library’s English and Drama team, the exhibition will feature over 150 literary works, (some highlights outlined for you below), this is a truly once in a lifetime chance to get up close and personal with literary history in all it's glory, a rare, rare treat. I daresay I'm all a quiver with literary anticipation.

Rebecca Notebook

The English and Drama team will be also be running a Writing Britain blog, giving curatorial insight into particular texts featured in the exhibition and tracking new discoveries made throughout the summer, so be sure to keep up!

Jane Eyre

Highlights of the exhibition:

J K Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – the original manuscript for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, lent by the author, describes Harry Potter’s first encounter with platform 9 ¾ in London’s King’s Cross station.

John Lennon’s original draft for ‘In My Life’ – John Lennon’s original handwritten lyrics to ‘In My Life’ describe the bus journey from Lennon’s childhood home to Liverpool’s town centre, recording many landmarks passed en route.

Virginia Woolf, first edition of To the Lighthouse (1927) and childhood newspaper, ‘Hyde Park Gate News’ – Woolf’s modernist novel tells the story of the Ramsay family and their visits to a remote island in the Hebrides.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, 14th century – the earliest surviving manuscript of the medieval romance poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Emily Brontë’s ‘Gondal Poems’ notebook – Emily Brontë composed the poems in this notebook a decade before her more famous Wuthering Heights. The poem on display in the exhibition anticipates Wuthering Heights in its moorland setting and in the self-destructive love of its protagonists.

J R R Tolkien’s original artwork for The Hobbit – this watercolour of ‘The Hill at Hobbiton’ is one of the most unusual representations of rural England, on loan from the Bodleian Library.

Thomas Hardy’s prepublication proof copy of Far From the Madding Crowd, corrected in the author’s own handwriting. This is shown alongside Posy Simmonds’s watercolour proofs for Tamara Drewe, the satirical reworking of the novel, kindly lent by the artist

George Orwell’s manuscript map, diary page and letter illustrating his experiences in the north of England, later published in the form of The Road to Wigan Pier, on loan from University College London.

George Eliot’s manuscript for Middlemarch (1871-72) addressing the implications of political, social and technological change upon a provincial town, such as the proposed building of a railway line

William Wordsworth’s letter to Prime Minister WE Gladstone objecting to the proposed Kendal and Windermere Railway, in which he enclosed a sonnet: ‘Is no nook of English ground secure / From rash assault?’

Charlotte Bronte’s manuscript for Jane Eyre (1847), in which a terrifying apparition of a ‘gytrash’ (a beast of folklore most associated with Yorkshire and Lancashire) anticipated by Jane solidifies into an encounter with Mr Rochester’s horse, Mesrour, and dog, Pilot.

Sylvia Plath’s draft of ‘Hardcastle Crags’ and Ted Hughes’s draft of ‘Wuthering Heights’, both based on the couple’s trip to Top Withins in Yorkshire.

William Blake’s plates from Jerusalem describing ‘The fields from Islington to Marylebone, To Primrose Hill and Saint Johns Wood’ as ‘builded over with pillars of gold, And there Jerusalem’s pillars stood’.

Harold Pinter’s early draft of his poem ‘Joseph Brearley’, describing childhood walks‘ from Clapton Pond to Stamford Hill, And on, Through Manor House to Finsbury Park…’,

Robert Louis Stevenson’s manuscript for Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, showing how he toned down some of the language compared with the first draft, which was burnt, and describing Soho as ‘a dismal quarter…like a district of some city in a nightmare’.

James Joyce’s original notesheets for the chapter of Ulysses which provoked scandal in the US, due to its subject matter of voyeuristic masturbation, and led to Joyce’s prosecution and banning of the novel.

Daphne Du Maurier’s early plan for Rebecca, on loan from Exeter University Library, which was used as evidence when the author was unsuccessfully sued for plagiarism.

Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

To book tickets for Writing Britain visit www.bl.uk/writingbritain, call 01937 546546 (Mon - Fri, 09.00 - 17.00) or buy tickets in person at the British Library.

To book tickets for Writing Britain events please visit http://boxoffice.bl.uk, call 01937 546546 (Mon - Fri, 09.00 - 17.00) or buy tickets in person at the British Library.

Penny Lane Lyric

Exhibition opening hours

Monday 09.30 – 18.00, Tuesday 09.30 – 20.00, Wednesday – Friday 09.30 – 18.00, Saturday 09.30 – 17.00, Sunday and English public holidays 11.00 – 17.00

Russian Bloggers' Delight Part 2: The Workshop-Moscow

2012-05-10T11:28:00.000+01:00

After my rousing lecture, I had the tremendous pleasure to sit down with a small group of bloggers, hand-selected by the British Council from a rather substantial pool, chosen for the quality of their sites, scope of their ambition as well as command of the English language (for my sake).

Spread over two days, the workshop consisted of some in-house practicalities, such as sitting semi-circle style and going over sites and social media in situ in a computer lab as well as venturing out and about for "the real thing." That is to say, a hands-on visit to the Fashion Behind the Iron Curtain exhibition at the gorgeous St. Catherine's Palace where the security guards had clearly never beheld the wonder that is half a dozen or so fashion bloggers, SLR's in hand, visually attacking every detail of their 25-room display (the girls--links below--have great coverage of the exhibit FYI).

But rather than recapitulate our activities, what I'd really like to say is how impressed I was with this group and their desire to do fashion blogging right by Russia. That is to say, the thing they all had in common, despite the diverse range of their personalities and subjects covered, was the unifying factor of Russian style, Russian fashion and Russian design.

Anna of NevskiyPodium looks to the wide sidewalks of Moscow (and her colleagues those of St. Petersburg) to collate and curate the best of Russian street style. She also runs a second sister site with an e-zine feel, NevskiyPodium Talk documenting style and cultural happenings around town. Svetlana of Cooking Looking (how cute is that name?) is a foodie with a passion for fashion who combines the two via Moscow's restaurant and style scene in a quirky personal-style-meets-dining-diary blog.

And tall Anna (her mother was a model, da?) changed the name of her site mid-workshop to Minded Fashion with an aim to inspire Moscow's modern working woman that style does not need to be compromised in the workplace, thanks to her brainy pursuits in international relations and politics (you go girl).

From left to right: Anna of Minded Fashion, Svetlana of Cooking Looking, some random in too many florals and Anna of Nevskiy Podium

I was so delighted with the USP's of each of these girls, which were in fact, USP's, chuffed that I did not arrive at the workshop to discover carbon copy blogs glorifying the runways of the west via Style.com images and a smattering of text--that is to say, blog's for blog's sake. Each of these girls had something really interesting to say and the motivation to say it. For a first time visitor like me, I found them and their sites wonderful entry points into the emerging world of Russia's cool contemporary cultural scene. So I recommend to each and every one of you reading this post, if you have stylish interests that go further afield than Paris Fashion Week, check out their sites. While Russia may not as yet have the same international foothold in the worlds of fashion and blogging as many other "emerging" market leaders, it's coming. And when it arrives, I bet my ushanka that these girls will be at the forefront of it all.

Bloggers In Attendance

The Wandering Whisperer: Moscow Part 2-27-29 April, 2012

2012-05-09T11:00:00.000+01:00

Man Whisperers: Louis Vuitton Menswear Autumn/Winter 2012 Up Close & Personal

2012-05-07T18:09:00.000+01:00

Louis Vuitton menswear is like that elusive hot date I always intend to go out on but never seem to make work with the diary. I missed the show in Paris and I missed the press day in London where the fine folk of LV also displayed their new Louis Vuitton Cup collection, a range of ready to wear, leather goods, shoes and accessories, for the stylish seafaring gent. Boys, boats and Louis Vuitton, you know I (re)gatta. Thank goodness for Jay McLaughlin stepping in to save the day to bring you these here pics. Enjoy!

Now in New York: TWELV Magazine

2012-05-07T09:47:00.000+01:00

My verty talented NY-based friend Hissa Igarashi is gearing up for the launch of his new print magazine, TWELV, a high fashion publication that also focuses on music, art and culture (PS someone you know may have a contributed a little something). Style with substance, 12% of advertising sales will go to charities like the UN's World Food Program (WFP), Doctors Without Borders and the United Nations Development program (UNDP), with the ultimate goal of raising enough to build a school in Africa. I've just received this wee video teaser of their debut cover issue shoot with none other than Mischa Barton, can't wait to see the issue!

Located in London: Travel from Holland Park

2012-05-02T15:00:00.000+01:00

Today, I'm rounding off a chapter of my near half-decade of UK-living and moving on from yet another flat. By the time this goes live, I'll hopefully be halfway to France. So I of course had to celebrate with a farewell shoot together with my photographer-in-residence-slash-Kensington-neighbor. In T (aka The Fashionographer's) and me's final shoot in and about my flat, I thought it fitting to sign off with a homage to my time in Holland Park with an exit story featuring my Mulberry "Travel" day bag. Forget hearts and hearths, where I lay my lizard print bag is my home. Au revoir Park du Holland, it's been fun! xx

Blouse-Won Hundred
Jeans-One Teaspoon
Jacket-D&G
Shoes-Steve Madden
Bag-Mulberry

Photos by Terence Webb

Russian Bloggers' Delight Part 1: The Lecture-Moscow

2012-05-01T10:09:00.001+01:00

Last week, I had the honour of joining the British Council in hosting a two-day workshop and lecture series concerning the topic of fashion blogging that ran alongside their current touring fashion exhibition, Reconstruction. I'm just waiting on a few more pictures from the blogging workshop, so I'll share those along with my experience of said workshop once they're all inboxed and accounted for. In the meantime, I'll begin with the lecture (which was live streamed on BC Russia's website and can probably still be found somewhere thereon, for those of you eager-Russian-speaking beavers).

Landing in Moscow at the dewy fresh hour of 5:30 AM, I had the entirety of the day to prepare for my public lecture, i.e. the first podium I've been asked to climb up on the other side of which was to sit an audience with whom I could not necessarily commune all that easily. Confession: it's just the tiniest bit unnerving when your usual smorgasbord of joke-ridden rhetoric produces naught but crickets, and those funneled via a live-translating earpiece, no less.

When I was only on page 2, I worried that I was boring my audience to tears in a language they didn't necessarily understand. But as is the thing with lectures that are structured with Q&A at the end, you have no choice but to power (point) through, keep calm and speak on. Whether they like it or not.

But judging from these pictures (generously provided by the British Fashion Council Russia) and the onset of questions unleashed when I'd managed to wrap my mouth around my first and last "spasibo," it seemed like it they did. Or at least, interest was piqued, tweets sent, notes taken and attention paid.

The lecture was on overview of the state of the blogosphere today and touched on important pillars such as content creation and monetization, but overall, implored Russian bloggers to stay, well, Russian.

Follow British Council Russia on Twitter and also keep up with their happenings via Facebook...full report of le bloggers, Ruski style, coming soon...

WhisperLust: Acne White Capsule Collection

2012-05-01T07:57:00.000+01:00

Acne, my Scandi-minimalist go-to brand of choice, has done a capsule collection reinterpreting their iconic bits in my fave hue (or lack thereof)--snow-white. The collection totals 20 pieces and offers a healthy assortment of denim, silk separates, printed tees, pleated shirting and other Acne classics. Starting at £100 on Net-a-Porter, as I peruse I make this fashion avowal to myself: what thou spendest on white Acne capsule collection thou shalt save on vin rouge in Paris this weekend.

The Wandering Whisperer: Moscow Part 1-26 April, 2012

2012-04-30T10:01:00.000+01:00

The clock is winding down until the movers arrive for my 70% packed up flat in four hours' time, but I can't resist sharing with you a visual sampler of my trip to Moscow. Proper post, with my impressions and thoughts of my first visit to Russia coming as soon as I make it out and across the Channel in one piece.

Happy 5th Birthday Butters!!!!!

2012-04-29T09:51:00.002+01:00

Since I am separated by an ocean from my little one on her big birthday, I wanted to share a wee mommy scrapbook of puppy memories remembering Butters' first weeks as the fluffy center of my universe. There are of course zillions more and better photos than these, but they're all on a hard drive somewhere, so I've salvaged a selection from Facebook that ought to thoroughly embarrass her. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!!! xxxx

PS if you want to wish her a happy birthday, this would be the place (Bu's FB).

Note from the Author: London-April 29, 2012

2012-04-29T09:47:00.001+01:00

Dear Readers,

I am back in London after a rather adventurous journey home from Moscow yesterday (first trip to Russia, posts coming soon), currently buried in a joyous steaming cup of Earl Grey as the April showers rain down outside my friendly neighborhood Starbucks, avoiding the enormous task that hangs over my head: packing up and moving out of my Holland Park flat. As you can imagine, casa di Whisperer is not exactly the sparsest of places in terms of clothes, bags, books and other assorted crap--what lies ahead is the truest of tasks, thank goodness for the burly Fashionographer who is coming round to help sort me this afternoon. Where, you may ask, am I going? The answer, for now, is rogue. Which, for the next two weeks, at least, means I'll be making my home sweet home in Paris, absconding expat-style to my beloved Saint Germain des Prés to take to the cafes and return to the business of writing my novel. Think of it as a "pen-caytion," a little overdue pressie to myself.

This year, I have spent more time aboard an airplane than tucked into my own bed. Living da sola as I do, coming home to a cold, dark, dust-ridden essentially abandoned flat for 24-36 hour stints twice monthly is not the most prudent of resources, it's a waste all around. With Butters still stationed with Mamma Whisperer back in NYC and the gathering storm clouds of the chaos that is set to be the Olympics close on Londontown, the right thing to do for the summer seems to me to be to get the hell out of here. Being neither an athlete nor a resident of Shoreditch with a spare room to let so as to pay for my five star four week holiday, heading for the hills seems to me to be the only way to handle the crush of people, sudden inflation and general pandemonium that is already beginning to clog up our fair city. So Paris it shall be.Then New York.

But before I go, there are a few happenings in London this month that I wanted to draw your attention to. First and foremost: my dear friend photographer Alistair Guy's exhibition opens Tuesday (the day je pars), the subject matter being a topic near and dear to my heart: "Across the Pond." As such, Mr. Guy kindly featured me as one of his subjects. Running from May 3rd to 31st, the show will be on at Exposure's London Gallery at 22-23 Little Portland Street W1W 8BU, so do go check it out if you're in town. Secondly, I'll be back this side of the Channel to host a night of all things McQueen at the V&A's reading rooms. Our topic du jour will be Sarah Burton and her handling of Lee's legacy, on May 17th, so do drop by for a drink and discussion (more details to come soon).

Other London events I'll sadly be having to be giving a chic French miss include:

The launch of ACNE Studio's first book, Snowdon Blue, on 3rd May at their Dover Street Store. To accompany the book, Acne Studios will host a touring exhibition of the portraits as well as a sale of limited edition prints taken from the book. The Limited signed prints featuring the likes of Serge Gainsbourg, Britt Ekland, Agatha Christie, Ian McKellan and Georg Baselitz.
The opening of talented illustrator Hormazd Narielwalla's exhibition at "The Other Art Fair," which will be on display from May 10-13th at P3 Ambika Space in Marylebone
The launch of the first menswear British Designer Collective at Bicester Village on May 16
An intimate dinner with Uniqueness which is being hosted by designer Alessandra Fachinetti and Caroline Issa at Bocca Di Lupa on the 21st of May.

So that's the diary done, dusted and closed for the time being on Londontown. So let the packing and the rouge-ing begin! I love Paris in the springtime...

Lots of Love,
TCW xxxxx

La Dolce Vita with My-Wardrobe and D&G Spring Summer 2012

2012-04-27T06:49:00.002+01:00

I seem to take sunny and fabulous Milano with me wherever I go these days, even back to drizzly Londontown. Thanks be (or grazie, rather) to the lovely gals over at My-Wardrobe, who invited me on down for an afternoon to live la vita Dolce. That is to say, a spot of dress up styling from their selection of D&G's last ever collection. Dolce is as Dolce does, so I decided to try and capture the fullness of the essence of one of the greatest second lines that has ever followed in a main line's footsteps.

Scarf Print Trousers £365
Scarf Print Blouse £290

Scarf Print Wedges £320

Floral Print Trousers £250
Chain Trim Jacket £635
White Classic Blouse £160
Red Court Shoe £280

Contoured Satin LBD £390
Ocelot Print Cardigan £250
Court Shoe £280
Ocelot Bag £665

Photographer: Heather Berrisford

Stylist: Jackie Bodikian

Artist and Model Quentin Jones Body Paints on NOWNESS.com

2012-04-27T06:29:00.000+01:00

Quentin Jones: Naked with Paint on Nowness.com.

Head to NOWNESS for the full feature

Fashion & The Arts: Mulberry supports the inaugural Frieze New York by collaborating with Frieze Projects

2012-04-27T06:28:00.000+01:00

Ny-Lon love alert! Mulberry is delighted to be supporting Frieze Projects at the first ever Frieze New York this May, here's the deets straight from the press release:

Frieze Projects sees eight artists create artwork or installations around the outdoor space of Randall’s Island. The commissioned artworks provide punctuation points around the island, and give interactive access to art for all visitors through the non-profit generosity of the programme, outside of the main Frieze space.

Cecilia Alemani, co-founder of No Soul For Sale and curator for the New York High Line Art program has curated Frieze Projects. She and her team will be giving exclusive tours to local art students, who have been invited and selected by Mulberry to attend Frieze.

Mulberry has created a newspaper to provide information on Frieze Projects and background on each artist, as well as a map to help visitors navigate the artworks and Randall’s Island. Complimentary newspapers can be picked up at till points around the fair as well as at associated New York galleries, and will also be given out with a bespoke Mulberry and Frieze tote at selected locations.

Visitors to Mulberry stores on Madison Avenue, Bleecker Street and Spring Street from 30 April – 7 May will be able to pick up one of the newspapers and totes in store, and they will also be included with US mulberry.com orders during the same period.

Georgia Fendley, Mulberry Brand Director explains: "Fashion’s love affair with art is nothing new; each inspires the other and as such we are delighted to support the first ever Frieze New York. Frieze has become one of the most important dates in the London cultural and social calendar, for New York we specifically chose to sponsor Frieze Projects and are particularly excited about the accessibility and diversity of the projects commissioned. We hope the newspaper we have created with the fantastic Frieze team will encourage a new audience to explore the commissions and enjoy the installations, live projects and surprises Frieze Projects has in store."

Bloggers' Delight: Bottega Veneta Initials

2012-04-26T05:57:00.001+01:00

The Way We Wore: Bo e Io-Milano, April 18, 2012

2012-04-25T17:00:00.000+01:00

Bag-Bottega Veneta Initials
Trousers-Mink Pink
Top-American Apparel